GoalThe goal of the City’s Emergency Management program is to develop and maintain the City’s ability to prepare for, respond to, recover from, and mitigate against major emergencies and disasters, minimizing the loss of life and property, ensuring continuity of government, and facilitating rapid recovery.

PurposeIn general, emergency management is the process of coordinating available resources to combat emergencies effectively, thereby saving lives, avoiding injury, and minimizing economic loss. Today’s emergency management program evolved from the old civil defense and civil preparedness programs of the 1950s, 1960s, and early 1970s.

Consolidation of Emergency ManagementThe Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) resulted from the consolidation of five federal agencies that were dealing with different types of emergencies. Since then, many states and local jurisdictions have accepted this approach and changed the names of their organizations to include the words “emergency management.”